The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
When asked this question, the immediate answer is, yes. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the features of a conventional horror story, which were very popular at the time, but also uses the story to raise social issues and make criticisms about the hypocrisy and double standards of Victorian society, in general, and Victorian London in particular.
The first aspect of horror to be noticed is that the main events of the story, such as the death of Mr. Hyde, usually take place at night. The idea of these events taking place at night creates an eerie atmosphere, full of suspense. An example of this is the setting for when he little girl
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The trampling of the little girl is an example of this. The word "calmly" is used in this incident to show that Mr. Hyde did it purposefully and that he had no remorse for doing it. The servant girl who witnesses the killing of Sir Danvers Carew described the crime as "insensate", or without feeling. Mr. Hyde obviously had no apparent reason for killing Carew and therefore makes the act motiveless. The descriptive phrases also make the incidents seem very horrific and that Mr. Hyde may be someone who frequently goes around harming people without a motive considering that this is the second incident of unprovoked violence.
Robert Louis Stevenson also makes links with Satan or superhuman powers. He describes Hyde as "really like Satan". When Utterson meets Hyde for the first time, he says,
"…if I ever read Satan's signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend".
Hyde was obviously an evil person, but these two quotes show how he gave an outward appearance as being evil and that he gave a feeling of association with Satan without him even having to commit a crime.
Hyde is described many times in the book and every time it is not in a pleasant way. Enfield, a friend of Utterson the lawyer, describes him as giving "a strong sense of deformity" and that he could not "specify the point". It causes Enfield to feel disgust towards him, but
Thoughts are like seeds that take root in our minds. They spawn feelings and more thoughts that can have powerful consequences. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the views of the townspeople in the 1930’s Southern town of Maycomb greatly impact the lives of two innocent men. The people make false accusations against Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley because they are different. These characters are representative of the author’s reoccurring symbol of the mockingbird, which signifies innocence, and subjects them to vulnerability. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, although innocent, fall victim to the hatred of society and thus emerge as mockingbirds. Tom Robinson, is black man, who is wrongfully
Good and Evil in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is a novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish author. Written and published 1886, this novella reflects on the individual, and societal behavior during the Victorian era. During the Victorian era people, were supposed to behave like a normal person. Certain behaviors were highly restricted for example, showing evil. Instead, they were expected to give respect for everyone. People who acted out against the norm during this period were usually sent to asylums because such behaviors were unacceptable. People in this society did just that, they behaved as if they were perfectly normal. This does not mean that their bad side did not exist. Instead, they hid their
The Concept of Evil in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Stevenson The substance of the Bible and Greek myths - the premise of the evil that is in man - sometimes lurking deep in the psyche, sometimes controlling and consuming like a wild beast, is explored in Robert Louis Stevenson's (1850-94) short Victorian novel of 1886. Rarely does the mere title of a novel have the myth-making depth to grip the imagination and ensure its place in our language for generations to come. Today everyone knows what is meant by a 'Jekyll and Hyde character'. A handful of other novels with this quality perhaps come to mind; including 'Frankenstein'.
The manner in which Hyde is first presented attracts the reader’s attention and provokes momentous assumptions from the reader that Mr Hyde is
This story is also a way for Stevenson to have a go at hypocroisy and
In this essay I am going to look at Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll, the first
Stevenson's Use of Literary Techniques in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
I did not expect that I would like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee as much as I do. Written from the perspective of Scout, a young girl in the 1930’s, this book takes a look at many issues, including racism and sexism, all from the innocent eyes of a child. This book reveals many of the issues and struggles faced during the Great Depression. So far, this book is excellently written.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, they were both kids. They were both immature children, they both taunted Boo Radley, they both interpreted things similarly and they both eventually "came of age". Yet they were both different; one was innocent and one was narcissistic and more. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scout are two very similar and different characters throughout the entire novel. They show both common and differentiating traits that determine their character. The traits that these characters had in common were they both thought similarly when a situation arose especially when they were at a younger age, they both started out as immature kids and obsessed over childish things like Boo Radley, and they both eventually "came of age". The traits they differed in were that Scout throughout the whole novel was an innocent character even in her "coming of age" while Jem was a narcissistic one, Scout went against what her family/town wanted her to be (a lady) while Jem tried more and more to be like Atticus and lastly Scout never understood racism while Jem showed he somewhat did understand it. These two main characters are similar like brother and sister and different like boy and girl.
with him again. Also in the later Dr Jekyll wrote that he was going on
French philosopher Michel Foucault once said “If repression has indeed been the fundamental link between power, knowledge, and sexuality since the classical age, it stands to reason that we will not be able to free ourselves from it except at a considerable cost,”. This quotation is saying that repression is the reason why people are not free to express themselves and explore new things. According to Foucault, the only way to be free involves consequences. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson discusses the consequences of repression through his characters Jekyll and Hyde. In this story, Jekyll attempts to live the suffocating expectations of Victorian society, but he ultimately creates an alter ego in order to deal with his suffering. This alter ego, Hyde, was created at a “considerable cost” to Jekyll.
Imagine a world without law, surrounded by anarchism and people who can do whatever they please. A world without law would result in a corrupt and unfair society, ruled by the authoritative elite. In the narrative, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, law is a major theme in society that controls the actions of the people and the destiny’s of the wrongdoers. A world without law is a world of chaos and calamity; therefore, laws are established to keep order and safety in the world that God created.
This gives the impression that Hyde is a monster than comes out only when it is dark and nobody can see him. Whatever he is, he cannot be called human. In Victorian England, if a person looked ugly, criminal-like or ‘giving an impression of deformity’ they were considered to be ugly and criminal-like inside to. If you imagine a person reading this story when that was what was thought, the description of Mr Hyde would instantly label him as the bad character.
The book portrays Hyde in like an animal; short, hairy, and like a troll with gnarled hands and a horrific face. In contrast, Jekyll is described in the most gentlemanly terms; tall, refined, polite and honorable, with long